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Dan Young Biography - Bio for Dan (“The Laptop Man”) Young – November 2002
Dan (“The Laptop Man”)
Young, 31, is the founder and president of Sandy, Utah-based
PC Laptops LLC. Born in 1971 and raised in Southern California, Young is a first-generation American. His parents emigrated from China to the United States in the late 1930s to escape repression and the early throes of World War II. At age six, Young began attending a computer-training camp established by a benefactor—which he only remembers as “Charles”—for under-privileged children. Young was trained on the Apple II+ computer, initially learning AppleSoft Basic, before moving on to Pascal when he was nine-years-old. He played video games, wrote video games and did a lot of hacking before finally quitting computers to “focus on girls.” His first entrepreneurial efforts selling T-shirts, sunglasses, and novelty items from a stand in Venice Beach yielded modest success, but he was caught up in the teen party and gang scene prevalent in Los Angeles at the time. The result of these activities—which he now calls “pretty stupid” — was several visits to Juvenile Hall, and at age 15, witnessing the death of a young man standing next to him at a party. With the help of his parents and a probation officer, Young got out of the gang scene by moving to Utah in 1988 to live with an older sister. He completed his senior year of high school, and then worked several jobs, attended a community college, and subsequently studied at the University of Utah. There he focused on Family Consumer Studies – a program that taught him how to “protect and value the consumer.” After the electronics retailer he was working for went out of business, Young asked his former manager if he could have the customer database. His request was granted, and he sent former customers a letter offering to honor their extended service warranties and only charging them for parts. The first year he lost $20,000, but the following year, Young’s business acumen earned him several hundred thousand dollars. In 1992, he formed Elite Systems as a sole proprietorship and sold electronics and computers out of his home and truck. Elite Systems became a limited liability corporation in 1994 and opened its first storefront in Salt Lake City, selling all types of desktops and portable computer systems. In 1996, Elite Systems entered a strategic relationship with Totally Awesome Computers, which resulted in Young agreeing to focus on laptop and portable computers. With Totally Awesome Commuters’ founder Dell Schanze and other advertising pitchmen like “Crazy Eddie” as role models, Young began an advertising experiment that continues to this day. Young appears in TV and radio commercials dressed up as and portraying such pop culture icons as Austin Powers, Miss Cleo, and Princess Leia. Now in 2002, with four retail outlets in Utah, a web presence, retail agreements with four major Utah University bookstores, and 30-plus employees, the company has been renamed PC Laptops. This emphasizes the company’s focus on portable computers, but also it prepares for geographical expansion. From his days as a gang member in
south L.A., Young has now driven his company to three listings
in the Utah100 (1999, 2000 and 2002), as well as consecutive
listings among the fastest growing companies in America
in Inc. Magazine (2000 and 2001). He still considers himself
a “video game junkie,” but when he’s not
visiting one of his stores, Young is now just as likely
to be rubbing shoulders with elected officials and luminaries,
as he is to be found tooling around town in his Ferrari
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